


Shadows Of Behemoth Hill

by Teal_Rainbeau



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Banter, Cabin Fic, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Eventual Keith/Lance (Voltron), Everyone Is Alive, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith Loves his Space Wolf (Voltron), M/M, Minor Keith/Lance (Voltron), Mystery, Paladins Without Bayards, Post-Canon, Skiing, Slight Lotura (Voltron), Snow and Ice, Snowboarding Lance (Voltron), Unresolved Romantic Tension, Winter, ghost story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2019-11-12 00:25:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18000287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teal_Rainbeau/pseuds/Teal_Rainbeau
Summary: The original five Paladins decide to take a winter vacation to a private cabin near the Oscura Mountains,  where legends of a terrifying creature will pique some of their interest while transferring a former Red Paladin to another dimension.10-13:All I did was split the second chapter into two parts for better pacing, and resolved small plot holes and wording issues.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> ~For those who get to enjoy, or endure, an extended winter.~
> 
> Idea came to me months ago, so I'm finishing it now. This 2-parter takes place months after the season 8 epilogue (where the paladins are all sitting together to celebrate Allura's life). Allura is alive and with Lotor, thus the "canon divergence".

  ** _2019, Oscura Mountain_**

"Shhh! Cori, be quiet!" 

But the dog could not deny her own instincts. It only had but a little time to deter whatever intruder was impeding on her owner's living quarters. 

Dr. Dunbar gathered the barking Alaskan Husky in her arms, hoping to lure her out to the backyard and away from whatever shadow was sliding against the wall. 

An extraterrestrial, Dr. Dunbar knew. 

Once the sickening gray disappeared around the corner, Dunbar knew it was her time to escape this cabin. She darted to the back door and allowed the dog to run out first. 

With Dunbar leading the way, they eventually ran towards the trail leading back out to the front gates. They ran for ten minutes without so much as a moment to catch their breath.

"Hang in there, girl. I know we can get assistance from..."

The disheartening sight of men sprawled in the show face down jolted her body to a rude impasse. She collapsed into the snow on her knees, holding Cori while the dog sniffed her and licked her cheeks in comfort.

A cloud bled over both scientist and animal, making a mark in the snow where the two of them, oblivious to much, mistook it for imminent snow. 

Snow did drizzle heavily. And a scream echoed amongst the rustle of the trees. 

\-----------

**_Present Day- Lumina Ski resort_ **

"And how is that going for you right now?"

"Snow like this brings me back to my childhood, when it would last until Mid-March. Then came the rains."

"All because of this Groundhog creature? It kind of reminds me of the Lucemet over on that planet whose presence blessed abundant sunshine each cycle long."   
  
Allura and Shiro were discussing life on their respective planets and Shiro mentioned in passing how strange it was to see curtains of snow again after so much time away in space.    
  
"You would have been impressed. It’s frozen rain, in a sense." As happy as the former black paladin was to see the Altean queen, he noticed someone missing. "Where's Lotor?"   
  
"Out gathering public support for the Galra coalition. I told him that I'd rather stay and deal with more domestic fronts, interior decorating being one."   
  
A member of the castle staff asked her where she should put a large plant that looked like an earth fir, but hung with jiggling tentacles, to which the queen motioned to her dining room.   
  
"Umm...domestic duties...You must have your work cut out for you, Princess."   
  
"Shiro, I've been queen for a year now..."   
  
"My apologies, Allura...it's just habit."   
  
Coran was in the background wailing Allura's name, which followed after a loud shatter. The woman rolled her eyes with a brief scowl, and excused herself.    
  
"I'm going to contact you again once I figure out why my staff can't keep it together long enough to dust a few statues. Do tell everyone I said hello, okay?"   
  
"Will do, your highness."   
  
The screen on the hologram went black, cutting out communications.   
  
"Guys, Allura gives her greetings...what are you up to, Pidge?"

"Watching these two soulmates on the bunny slopes. Keith keeps biting it!" She gushed.  
  
The girl was peering out the window with binoculars and snickering at the man with the mullet waving his arms aggressively, while their lankier friend held up his hands defensively in front of himself and began fussing back.    
  
"What did I miss?" Hunk took his place in a chair next to her.   
  
"Keith's used to being such a fast learner. Another opportunity to temper that long-standing stubborn streak of his." Shiro commented with a slight teasing tone in his voice, leaning on the counter while wiping a tall drinking glass.    
  
For former Team Voltron, the first morning here in their cabin would be the beginning of a well-deserved vacation. There was a fire crackling to a kinetic dance from the fire place, while enough warmth and a large enough pile of Hunk's shortbread cookies kept everyone satisfied.    
  
All that was left to prepare was an drink concoction that Shiro decided to borrow from a social media recipe.    
  
"Oh my God!" Pidge whispered and darted from the window to take a mannequin's pose on the couch, binoculars tucked behind a stray pillow. Hunk took the universal gesture as a cue to act natural.   
  
The door glided open, drafting in Lance's frazzled voice with the timbre of a frustrated Keith.   
  
"I thought you knew, Keith. You can't just start moving without the poles. Haven't you been observing the other skiers?" Lance started at him skeptically with his arms wide open.   
  
"No, Lance. Not really. Considering that falling on my face and ass has been my main concern!" He ripped his red and white skiing jacket off and tossed it on the rack next to the door, avoiding the boy's scrutinizing stare.   
  
Lance strolled over to Shiro, who was measuring the last ingredient of the drink concoction.    
  
Pidge made room on the couch for Keith as he fell to his seat with a disenchanted sigh.  "Tougher than it looks, huh? I probably would have given up and started rolling down the hill."   
  
Keith acknowledged her with a mopey hum.   
  
Lance was talking to Shiro about the hour outside, mentioning that Keith struggled a "little bit", meaning he almost gave up on the idea of swishing and jumping through snowy terrain.   
  
"Didn't  _you_ surf back in the day? You should have a basic foundation then. " Shiro handed him a glass as a gesture of him being his first Guinea pig. He watched as Lance sipped and nodded in approval.   
  
"Yeah, and I also taught myself how to ski and snowboard. Wait, why are we talking like I'm an old man now?"   
  
"I don’t mean  _back in the day_ of Methuselah, Lance." He paused and observed his brother's slouching form on the couch. " What did you do to him?"   
  
"Nothing!" Lance stood up straight with his hands sassily on his hips. "I handled Keith with kid gloves, but your boy wanted to fly before he could climb out of the egg."   
  
"You finally gave me the poles after watching me struggle for a good thirty minutes!" Keith glared at him with his palm open in exasperation.   
  
"Wow, step by step instruction? Keith's got the potential and all, but I understand his frustration. " Hunk murmured.   
  
"Look, he wanted to jump right into standing on the skis by himself. And I was trying to first demonstrate the right stance and the correct form with the poles. Then I finally let him do things  _his way_ once he gave me  **that look** . You guys all know that patented "don't tread on me Keith Kogane glare"!"

He imitated Keith by pretending to narrow his eyes indignantly away from everyone and standing with his lips pursed and shoulders squared, clenching his fists to his sides.   
  
Pidge scoffed thoughtlessly and bit into a cookie to keep the snickers from leaking out. Shiro nearly choked on his test cup of hot drink.   
  
"I still love you, man." He winked at his bothered friend with a flirty smile, sending him a toast with his glass mug.   
  
"Whatever." Keith muttered, mirroring exactly what Lance did before, but with his arms crossed. He tried to ignore the heat scrambling to his face and neck.   
  
"Okay! Shiro started to smile, "Who's up for a hot drink with a blend of herbs and spices?"   
  
"Did you spike it? Pidge joked.   
  
"Yes, as a matter of fact. Spiked it with a touch of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg, and I even finished it off with cloves." He stated with a clever grin.   
  
Pidge smiled and shook her head.   
  
*****   
  
He didn't understand why he couldn't be more graceful when it came to something as involved as learning to ski. Even though Lance's direction was unsolicited, he thought the process would have been so much easier. Just balance on some skis, take the damn poles, and continue on! It bothered him more than he wished it did, especially when his friends would chime in and poke fun at his mannerisms, even if in good humor.   
  
In a flash an azure shaded mammoth of a wolf materialized in front of him. The animal must have been reading his human companion somehow. Keith sighed and hugged the animal, gently ruffling his neck.   
  
"Sorry I can't bring you inside."    
  
The animal that all of his friends called Cosmo was now almost an entire foot taller than Keith on all fours. Indoors, it was like having an adult earth horse taking up volume in the middle of the living room. A large tuft of fur crowned the top of his head, muscles bulging from the animals hind legs.

It was unanimous that he would stay outside in the forest that created the cabin's backyard. At moments his friends worried that he would grow even larger as time moved on. Sometimes Keith would partially acknowledge with trepidation the possibility of his feral friend outgrowing their connection one day...   
  
In this moment, he settled on the wooden deck with his space wolf, enjoying the snowy earth landscape. It was beautiful, with evergreens still showing evidence of their emerald glory underneath thick coats of snow. A storm concluded the night before the former Paladin's arrival, leaving a sheen of porcelain ground, untouched and smooth. 

"I'm always at peace when you're around." He whispered as he petted the animal's head with a tight embrace.     
  
*****   
  
"Legend says that the snowballs that roll and increase on Behemoth Hill are spirits that the Behemoth have swallowed on his path!"   
  
"Hunk , no one I've talked to has brought up anything more than that. They just give us these weird looks." Pidge retorted.   
  
Shiro sighed and sat on the couch cross-legged with a cookie in his hand. "Another ghost story, Hunk? “He looked at the boy more with soft pity rather than ridicule.    
  
According to Hunks midnight reading sessions, it was a legend that has been going around since the 21st century of advanced skiers, mountain climbers, etc. who heard the sound of what must have been a creature.    
  
The Behemoth.    
  
And anytime a large snowball gathered on the higher elevated hills, that meant the creature was coming. Many skiers refuse to go up there because of that urban legend, some because of how advanced of a slope it was, rising fifty feet above the bunny slopes.   
  
"That story again?" Keith responded without being phased. He had come in after spending shortly over an hour making sure the wolf was comfortable. He then crossed over to the living room to grab his skiing equipment.    
  
Shiro figured that he was going to meet up with Lance, so he told him that the blue Paladin went snowboarding at one of the more advanced slopes.   
  
"I hope it's not Behemoth Hill! That's the only advanced hill that I know of by name! He's gonna encounter something up there and then come running back to us!" 

"Behemoth Hill’s the name? I was doing some research myself and I hear that ages ago there lived an ancient animal that looked just like a giant hippo with fur." 

He blinked at the group of his friends scrutinizing him and looked into the corner wall. "Urban legend." He finished quickly as he closed the door behind him .   
  
"See, told you!" Hunk wailed. "   
  
"Guys, urban legends may or may not be true." Shiro crossed his arms. "Besides, the elder at the hot springs said it was literally just a endangered bird flying overhead." He paused with a twist of skepticism in his brow. "But then again, he also said that fairies hibernated in pinecones during snowy conditions..."

"Either way, I'm interested enough where I might have to go to bed with my light on. As I research Behemoth Hill." Pidge remained straight faced despite her gaze wandering anxiously to the window left of her.   
  
*****   
  
Behemoth Hill. Miles of elevation away from the bunny slopes and from most of civilization, really. On the lift, Lance could spot just a few narrow track pairs where a few skiers and mostly snowboarders have made their marks. 

He found snowboarding much easier than surfing. It should have frightened him to be up here by himself, but he found it somewhat sacred to have a mountain by himself. 

It surprisingly was not the steepest slope Lance has ever been on, so why did it appear as though the snow was swirling or like the world was getting ready to tilt him off of his axis?    
  
The former blue paladin shook his head, trying to banish the panic from his system. He put on his goggles and took his place on the snowboard, descending the slope in a smooth eternal wave.   
  
Okay, so far, so good.   
\----------   
Snowboarders and skiers alike swarmed the cliff just below the mountain base of Behemoth Hill, close to a hundred despite the curtain of nightfall approaching.    
  
Keith really did believe in the stuff that was brewing back at the hangout. There was something that stirred in him just like the familiar wash of quintessence on missions past...Whatever lived up here, if real, might have only been seen by the most advanced of daredevils.   
  
He raced to the ski lifts with his equipment gripped tightly in his hands and managed to snag the next available seat to Behemoth Hill. The higher he elevated, the more clearly he noticed that Lance was laying there in the snow, barely raising his upper torso.    
  
"Lance!"

Everything in his stubborn being wanted to skip the part where the seat made it to the mountain and just fall twenty feet below. But judging by his coordination earlier today, doing that just might guarantee a neck brace for the duration of their vacation.

Ten agonizing minutes later, he finally reached the slender boy.    
  
"I got dizzy." Lance whispered. "Almost stuck that landing, was at the perfect angle, too..."   
  
Keith frowned. " When did you start getting dizzy spells?"   
  
"Just now" Lance rose to meet his gaze, hand in his. But as they rose up together he teetered over into Keith's shoulder moaning.   
  
"I don’t like this. We have to get you to a medic!"    
  
He dropped his skis on the ground momentarily and escorted Lance gently to his feet, aware of the snowboard still strapped snugly to his feet.    
  
"I promise I didn't land that hard, Keith. Didn’t even hit my head or anything."    
  
"Yet you're relying on my movements..." 

Lance opened his mouth to argue, but paused upon noticing Keith's face gripped with a sudden fear. A large shadow darkened the path they descended from and eclipsed the snow to a sickening gray.   
  
Keith yelled for both of them to go, and suddenly the two were sliding and ripping down the second half of the hill, a large snow mass rolling and growing right behind them. Lance squinted and focused, ignoring the spinning trees in his sight.    
  
Keith managed to make it to skiing position, forgetting his heart palpitations momentarily, and remembering flashes of what Lance taught him about skiing. With wide eyes and clenched teeth, he used what little control of gravity he had left to bend his body into a more controlled stance, and staked his poles into the snow for a more ceremonious push off. After that, just swish and move opposite of the pole's position. Icy wind whipped at his cheeks dispersing into stinging irritations.   
  
By the time he and Lance reached the bottom of Behemoth Hill, he stopped and utter a shrill laugh, well aware that they both narrowly escaped impending danger.   
  
"I'd figured I'd get it eventually." Keith celebrated, still spiked with his own adrenaline.    
  
"That’s usually what happens when you're staring death in the eye. " Lance raised an eyebrow and staring him down.   
  
He called out for Keith and shoved him roughly in a direction out of the way of the snowball while he used the force to launch himself opposite of him.    
  
Before the former red paladin could raise up to run for his friend, a piercing buzz burrowed into his ear and irritated his temples. He cried out in agony while gripping his head and falling fetal position back in the snow.    
  
REMEMBER ME AND RESCUE ME

\-------------   
  
In the cabin backyard, Cosmo's howls carried into the wind.   
  
"Cosmo?" Shiro looked up from his place by the fire and followed the others outside. Cosmo continued howling, telling them that there was trouble wherever he sensed.   
  
But as soon as Pidge was the first to step forward, Cosmo vanished.    
  
"Keith." Shiro murmured for his brother.

\---------------

"What the hell is that thing?" Lance was in the midst of a fight/flight scenario when he realized that he had no bayard to attack with, nor nerve to move. A creature, no, an apparition of sorts, burning with bright red and gliding across land like sea flotsam and jetsam. It lingered just yards away from him, not yet showing signs of a true threat.

He finally managed to budge upon seeing his friend's pain and slid in the snow to his side, cradling him. 

"Keith!"

The former Red Paladin finally looked at the blurred lines and contours of Lance's face. His own face was twisted into a deeply wrinkled frown, eyes dotted with anguish as tears streamed to the wayside of his cheeks. As Lance consoled him, he allowed the lull of his voice to hit him like elixir to his brutally throbbing temples and skull. 

A loud, long howl penetrated the air. 

"She wants me to save her!" Keith finally came to breathily. 

"Who? Where?"

"The voice that spoke to me...she's in danger."

Lance asked Keith if he could stand, and demanded to know what the hell happened just then. 

It was like a giant drill was scraping against the walls of his skull and persisting over and over, he told him. 

The rose-colored apparition now took a faint form of a giant animal.

"Is that?" Lance began. 

"A wolf." Keith finished. 

When the howling persisted, the creature ran towards the two men, until a familiar growl materialized following an ether of blue. 

The red creature did nothing more than look at Cosmo before the space beast retreated backward, tail under him and head bowed. 

"What's going on?!" Lance stared at the scene of the animal cornering Cosmo against the wall of the mountain cliff. 

"Whatever that is...it's a threat to him!" Keith rose from the ground and scrambled into a run towards the apparation. 

"Leave him alone! Come after me instead!" He stood in his commanding stance with his hands dropped by his sides, hoping for whatever that was to spare his feral friend kindly, without any fatalities. 

The red ether backed away from the blue beast and turned it's gaze menacingly on the half-Galra. 

The former blue paladin screamed out for him, begging him to turn away and run. Anything besides throwing himself in the front line as live bait. 

When the creature bent it's legs on all fours, Keith quickly whistled to Cosmo for his immediate attention. 

"Get Lance back to safety!" Keith commanded him before the wolf-shaped vapor pounced on him.

"Keith! KEITH!" 

Before Lance could reach out his hand for that of his friend, a flash of azure coincided with the last sight of horror as Keith vanished into a sickly red with the creature that attacked him.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Between the time that Guard One seized him by his jacket collar and lifted him off the ground, it must have been five short seconds upon processing that he had indeed been tossed into a large pile of snow feet away from where he used to be.
> 
> "Are you okay, buddy?" The former yellow paladin jogged to him and lifted him up by his underarms.
> 
> The former blue paladin gasped for the air that was knocked out of him with that landing, ruffling his chilly arms. 
> 
> "What did you do, Einstein?" Pidge folded her arms with a raised eyebrow.
> 
> "My boyish charms didn't work, so I tried to channel Keith, and it backfired."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loving writing Voltron Fanfics♡
> 
> Follow me at tealrainbeau.tumblr.com

"Why would he just vanish like that?" Hunk cried.

"I think Cosmo senses Keith. Their quintessence has been linked together since he was a pup." Shiro answered.

They waited outside in the backyard for Cosmo, not knowing where to begin their search, and absolutely not wanting to arouse fear of those in the public vicinity of meeting him out front. 

A large flash of blue light illuminated the snow near the entrance of the everglades, and Lance, holding on for dear life on Cosmo's back, flew off and rolled into the icy piles.

His comrades ran towards the both of them, relieved that they were in one piece.

“Cosmo, where’s Keith?” Hunk asked while keeping his panic at bay.

Shiro went to help Lance up, but he shrugged him off and turned his attention furiously towards the large space wolf. 

"What the hell were you thinking?! You just abandoned your master like that?! Bad dog!"

The majestic wolf shrunk himself into sad, distressed whimpers.

"Lance, that's enough!" Shiro frowned.

"Keith is GONE, Shiro!" Lance finally launched to his feet.

Shock flashed into the dark eyes of the former Black Paladin. “Okay, start from the beginning. Tell us what occurred between you two .”

"I was snowboarding on Behemoth Hill and Keith met me up there for  _some reason_ , and do you know what happened? First there were giant snowballs rolling after us, and we survived that! But then we encountered this strange red ghost wolf-dog-thing that swallowed Keith into oblivion!"

The other three listened in heightened anxiety as Lance continued to recount his ordeal. 

"And Cosmo didn't fight back or try to save Keith at all!" 

He hugged himself and leaned against a trunk of a tree sobbing. "We're not paladins anymore, remember? He was defenseless, Shiro!" No bayards, no protection!”

Pidge and Hunk exchanged apprehensive glances, and they both knew what the other was contemplating on. That creature that Lance spoke of...the giant snow boulders that tried to kill them...

"We have to go back for him!" Blinded by his tears, the young man tried to push against Shiro, who was holding him back with his hovering arm. 

"Easy. I don't think you or  _any of us_ know what we're up against." Shiro spoke to him firmly, yet gently.

"What about  _Keith_ ?! Shiro!"

"You told us that Cosmo was terrified of that thing, right? Might be best that we follow his instincts. In the meantime, let's hope this creature..." 

The man paused and peered at Pidge and Hunk. "Spill it."

"It's the Behemoth!" Hunk screamed.

"There are way too many coincidences that line up with what Lance told us!" Pidge added.

"Are you telling me that some urban legend might be a true story after all?" 

"What urban legend? Hey, what's this Behemoth business you guys keep going on about?" Lance insisted.

Hunk arranged himself to tell the story in his best spooky story narrator self. "The Behemoth is a 200 year old creature that resides in the highest mountain here. They say that...

"Hunk, who is  _they?_ " Lance threw out his hand as if trying to catch some clarity.

Pidge added. "Many pe- I mean,  _residents_ throughout centuries have said that the creature resembles a bird, a hippo, or some beastly creature. Those giant snow boulders alone sound like a reoccurring phenomena.

"And what happens when we destroy  this thing?"

"Then no more phenomena." Hunk and Pidge said in unison. 

"Sounds like we'll have to nip it in the bud so it doesn't come back by next winter, then." Lance spoke seriously.

\---------------

A home. 

Upon greater focus, a cabin. 

This was someone's home in the mountain, but when did he end up here?

Keith rose to his feet, whipping around for any sighting of the creature that brought him here. Only the gentle whistle of the wind, snow falling as if he were inside of one of those globes he spotted at a general store once.

The rest of his surroundings were hazy, impossible to see beyond his immediate vicinity. But he swore he could see a field of something otherworldly surrounding his immediate settings, something with an alternating glow between a pale green and a brilliant white...quintessence?

Was he dead, passed over in the afterlife? 

It was peaceful after all. 

He inhaled the chill of the air, surprised by it's cleanliness and purity. 

It was either the afterlife, or the in-between.

Not choosing to wait and figure it out, he walked up to the cabin's door and knocked. But the door clicked slightly ajar, gently inviting him in.

Keith called out for signs of anyone taking residence. No answer. His eyes magnetized from wall to wall, taking in the condition of the furniture. Green sofas. An all-in-one computer, something that was  _ancient_ by today's standards. Most of the house appeared to maintain a generally strong sense of upkeep. 

"How long has this place been here?" he asked no one in particular. He hoped to God that someone, and no one would answer back. 

One mistake he made was slowing down to explore this place, resulting in an utter chill. His arms involuntarily wrapped around his body despite the fitted parka and infinity scarf caressing him. It had to be reducing to ten degrees Fahrenheit by now. 

He felt drawn to a table right behind him, something that wasn't in his peripheral before. It was probably always there, he thought. His feet scraped across the carpet and past the couch, where a peculiar weariness took place in his bones all of a sudden. No time for rest. 

A USB plug rested on the tabletop, made with metal and attached to something made of rubber. Holographic slits comprised of these nowadays.

Something in his field said  _turn the computer on and take a look at the contents._ Whether it was curiosity would yet to be proven, but for now, the overwhelming force dragging him to the desk area had yet to fill him with dread. 

After waiting for a few-minutes-too-long start-up screen, he attempted to log-in after trying the standard code of 0000. Nothing. 

He tried  _Garrison_

Nothing, of course. 

_11111111_

No dice. 

He allowed his clenched fist to drop next to the keyboard with a thud. 

"Any hints?" He folded his arms and leaned back in the chair impatiently. 

From the depths of the surrounding mountain, a faint, a melancholy hiss pierced the atmosphere but Keith had already grown accustomed to the sound of something inhuman from his times in space. But in order to prepare for this new unknown he dashed from his chair and closed the door promptly. All three locks were turned to the left. 

He quickly remembered his phone in his pocket and snatched it out, immediately getting ready to call Lance first. 

A perplexed hum escaped from his lips when he saw his phone screen. 

Everything was in working order, except for the time and date at the right hand corner of the screen: The time read  _00:00_ instead of  _21:00_ , while the year displayed as  _2019_ .  He tried to ignore this momentary error and proceeded with his intentions to call. 

_"We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please recheck the number and try your call again."_

This number that he had dialed from  _muscle memory_ , suddenly was an incorrect number? He chose to watch himself dial the number, which was a standard ten digits. Same results despite his accuracy. 

Where the hell was he? 

\----------------

Lance was not going to wait around for the sky to fall with some sort of clue as to where Keith disappeared to. Not today! He listened to Shiro ask Allura and Coran questions about the creature, heard the same rotation of answers of not knowing what the creature was.

But Allura and Coran hoped that they found solutions and wished them the best of luck, yadda yadda. 

He was probably on his way by the time their conference call finished. Now that Behemoth Hill was confirmed by a primary source (being him) to have supernatural or alien activity, that meant there was something else being protected up there. 

While on a ski lift, he pulled out a standard military-styled map from an classified Garrison pdf file and traced the lines of all major mountain roads and landmarks. Behemoth Hill was about five miles west from Lumina Ski resort, as he knew already. But there was another landmark going further east from that hill, an unmarked military base… 

Why not enlist the Armed forces or another military branch? Did the Garrison have something from another planet under lock and key up there? Maybe they could give him answers to what might have happened in connection to Keith's disappearance. 

So ten minutes and very sore leg muscles later, he met up with a couple of nice gentleman at an auspiciously placed government gate. 

"This is a restricted area!" The guard asserted roughly.

Lance put on his best unassuming act. He wasn't just going to go up there and tell them that the Behemoth took away his stubborn, martyr of a friend. But then again...

"I saw the Behemoth!”

"And?" one of the soldiers consulted blandly. 

"And?! Looked like a large red wolf. I'm pretty sure that because the beast is a phantom that it could have easily passed you by now. So if you'll please let me pass, that would be helpful!"

The two men glanced at each other, then passed the boy an insulting glare. "Sure... what next? You're gonna tell us that the Groundhog came out of his hole after all? Or that the Easter Bunny left behind a few golden eggs?"

Wasn't it the  _goose_ that  _laid_ the golden egg?

"Listen, I don't know if you've heard of the Paladins of Voltron? Defenders of the entire Universe? My best friend was one of them. I was one of them. Lance McClain, former Blue Paladin. Friend's Keith Kogane."

Hardened stares.

"I was the blue paladin! But I rode the red lion? My comrade that disappeared was red who rode black. Doesn’t that give us some clout?"

"Young man, this is NOT a museum." Guard One was a short, yet stocky fellow. When he spoke, his velvet pitch and deep tone reminded Lance of a late night radio jock. 

"Go home, sir. By order of the Garrison are we to let NO ONE pass, especially without clearance and a government issued ID" By contrast, Guard Two was taller and lankier, but carried a pitch and tone of somebody much younger and almost  sprightly. He reminded him of Matt Holt.

"Okay, cool. What if I were to prove to you that you that I'm an officer of the Garrison? I still have my ID back at the cabin that I..." 

As he pointed back in the direction he came, he turned around before choosing to wise up and  _not_ spend an extra thirty minutes with dumb assery when Keith's life was at stake. 

And it was at this moment that he decided to use desperate measures. 

With a cold frown splashed on his face, he confronted them with aggressiveness. Listen, you two, this is urgent!" I don't have time to be standing here and arguing with you guys over red tape!"

"You're right, sir. Neither do we..."

Lance gulped.

Between the time that Guard One seized him by his jacket collar and lifted him off the ground, it must have been five short seconds upon processing that he had indeed been tossed into a large pile of snow feet away from where he used to be. 

"Are you okay, buddy?" The former yellow paladin jogged to him and lifted him up by his underarms.

The former blue paladin gasped for the air that was knocked out of him with that landing, ruffling his chilly arms.  

"What did you do, Einstein?" Pidge folded her arms with a raised eyebrow. 

"My boyish charms didn't work, so I tried to channel Keith, and it backfired." 

Those guys were relentless. Nothing would make them give up job security. 

"You know there's only  _one_ Keith for a reason..." Hunk crossed his arms with a smirk.

“Wait a minute…how did you all manage to find me  _way_ over here?!”

“Cosmo tracked your scent and led us right to you.” Pidge informed him.

Lance frowned, then looked up at Cosmo's form hovering over him and softened his features a bit.

"Listen, boy. I'm really sorry I lost it back there. Can we start over and be friends again?" He had his arms wide open, waiting for the animal to reciprocate, which he did by nuzzling his head into his embrace.

"We're not Paladins anymore. To some people, it's like Voltron never existed." Pidge hung her head humbly.

"And that's where higher ranking Garrison officials come in." Shiro marched forward and took his ID from the front pocket of his black parka. 

The men at the gates once again barked at Lance, demanding to know who these new people were.

"I am  _Admiral_ Takashi Shirogane of the United States Garrison." he asserted with ID in hand. 

"What business do you have, Admiral?" Guard Two asked.

"I can discuss that with your superior!"

"What is the meaning of all this?" Guard one flung his hands to his hips.

"As I was told, there is a creature running rampant." He lowered his head in a gaze that was weighted down with worry. "One of our own from the Garrison community has encountered that thing and has yet to be found dead or alive... Therefore, you are to open these doors immediately for my associates and I so we can search the area for clues and finally get to the bottom of this!”

But they quickly stood down once Cosmo made his presence known with his growling glare. 

"He looks like that thing!" Guard one exclaimed.

Guard two backed away. "The-The Behemoth!"

Just then Cosmo charged forward and vanished to the other side of the gate with the rest of the former Paladins in tow. 

The guards processed what just happened with mouths opened and eyes widened, then composed themselves and looked at Lance.

"I swear I didn't tell him to do anything!" he shrugged trying to feign innocence.

The boy suckered in his defensive talk and turned beamingly to Cosmo. "Good boy! Just play along...let 'em think you're the monster."

"Thank you for your assistance, men." Shiro offered sarcastically while turning and strutting away. 

_"That was the Behemoth!"_ one of the men whispered.

_"Could that mean that those people were also ghosts?"_ the other man wailed in utter despair.

\----------------

Keith side-glanced to a portrait resting on the desk of a woman and her dog. The woman was of medium earth-tone, with short, light brown hair, and a long-sleeved red dress. In her arms an Alaskan Husky. It’s fur was surrounded by shades of black with occasional inclines of pure snow white. 

He wondered briefly what Cosmo would look like if he were an earth breed. Could the animal still have his markings with shades of blue? Definitely couldn't teleport. The smile that crept to his lips from thinking about him simmered to sadness. He hoped that the creature was safe and protecting his friends. It was time to make progress. 

Clues. Clues that could hold something dear. 

A loud shatter of glass struck his bodily system to the core with terror. The ghastly sight of an enormous faint red bird bathed the immediate area into a giant bed of fumes. The creature's energy levels matched that of the one he encountered with Lance, just a different physical form.

"PREY WILL BE DESTROYED " As faint as it was, the breathy drawl appeared to Keith like the sensation after being caught in between drowsiness and the beginnings of dreaminess.

The unwelcomed throbbing in his temples returned. 

"Oh, God. Not this again!" he helplessly leaned his forehead against the comfort of his palm, hoping that this was not going to be like last time. What the hell was going on here? Was this whole scenario even real?

Keith shot up and immediately stumbled upstairs to dubious safety, doing his best to take advantage of his fight/flight by sensing for protection while praying for a place to hide. 

He made sure that his steps were as light as possible while making it to the landing. 

The apparition followed him with the heaviness of its wings cutting through air and atmosphere of heavy footsteps despite its various form.

_Door!_ **Locked** ! 

The frazzling pattern continued for seven more spells. The eighth, wide-opened door gave him a bathroom setting. 

Keith immediately closed the door by turning the knob first before closing it, heartbeat grinding in his chest, ears gurgling with the undercurrent of his own blood racing. The bathtub was where he took refuge, closing the curtain behind him and holding his breath. 

He gritted his teeth while praying to whomever for the creature to just make his way back to snowy terrain. In the silence, his temples still burned from his downstairs encounter with the creature and he clammed into himself as if trying to make himself invisible. The apparition hissed angrily as the sound of his flight descended outside.

Keith held out for a bit longer before pulling the curtains open gently and standing to his feet. He exhaled, thanking God that the creature, and his debilitating headache, were gone! He looked outside the window and flinched at the darkness. No surrounding lights, not even an Aurora Borealis to provide for the area.

According to mental math, his body was just narrow enough to fit through the bathroom window. And the twenty four foot drop was not intimidating in the slightest; all he would have to do is tuck and roll once he reached the bottom. He balanced on the rim of the tub and used his weight to launch himself through the opening. The dive was swift, but he tucked and roll as he had many times before from fairly elevated places. 

Except this time he landed with a disproportional amount of weight on his front foot and planted face first in a small pile of snow with a grunt. He sat up and rolled his eyes while he smeared the snow off of his face.

A scream tore from his throat as a rather large animal snarled mere inches away from him.

\---------------- 

Shiro frowned in concentration trying to read the font on the wooden sign, then trudge forward to get an even closer look. 

"Welcome to Oscura Mountain." Hunk's voice rang as clear as day from feet away. 

Shiro thanked him dryly, trying to conceal his frustration.  

Of all the parts here that he and his friends have visited, Lance noticed that this one had the thickest hills of snow past here. 

"Clearly the public's tax dollars aren't reaching this place."

Pidge rubbed her short arms, leaning forward to gain traction for the road ahead. "Guys, I feel something here..."

"Like what?" Hunk asked.

"Like...I don't know...something's been dead and buried here." 

If it were not for the drivels of snow strewn around, the team would have completely ignored ruins of what used to be a cabin. Somebody's home had been untouched, vibrant browns from the furnish of the logs now decayed into a melancholy rot of faded gray. Where there probably was a thick roof at some point in time now laid caved in.

Pidge stepped forward with a concentrated frown. "Termites must have feasted on the foundation during the past few summers. The wood has all but corroded."

"Or a families of beavers could have spotted an opportunity. Kinda like Hansel and Gretel finding the gingerbread house." Hunk contributed with a shrug.

"Not likely." Shiro scanned the property, chin resting under his knuckles. "Log cabins like this one should have been built to withstand all of nature's hazards, and yes, that includes pests and woodland creatures."

"Somebody's contractor needs to be sued, pronto." Lance stepped forward and pinched some sawdust from a fallen log. 

Pidge's voice rang from feet away as she motioned for the rest of the team to come and take a look: Making a large dent in the blankets of snow were glowing ribbons of something all too familiar to their adventures as Paladins.

"Quintessence!" Hunk said, astonished. 

\----------------

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a great week! ♡


	3. Part 3

Keith swallowed and took deep breaths, nerves rattled further by the echo of the snow scraping against his body as he slid backwards. In a last ditch effort to preserve his life, he took a deep breath and stared calmly into the glow of red eyes.

For a moment whatever it was composed itself, whimpers appearing to come from an animal that was not a predator, but a protector. It galloped back around towards the cabin’s entrance. 

Against his better judgement, he followed it as he felt the fight/flight impulse leak out of his system and drain away. 

In the flow of the lights illuminating the front door of the cabin, he saw the form of an animal that had a mix of white and black fur that stood out in a fluffy coat. An Alaskan Husky, he realized.

Just then the picture of the woman and that same dog backtracked in his thoughts…

The dog bounced and leapt to the door, scratching it with it's paws a little as it slid back down onto all fours. It ran to Keith as if he were a well-loved family member and sat in front of him with pupils dilated as it looked at him. 

The half-Galra knelt and rustled it's fur, looking at it's collar for a name.  _Corrine_ , the charm read in cursive. 

"Pretty name." So  _it_ was a girl.

Corrine whimpered and uttered a delicate bark, which made Keith bounce up and march towards the door. 

"Okay, I'm going to have to..."

Before he could finish telling the dog his warning about breaking the door down, he remembered the mess that creature made at the side window while on the prowl, which was a benefit for the two of them provided it didn't return to finish them off. 

He switched on his phone's flashlight and climbed through the window’s damaged opening, careful not to catch his skin and clothing on any jagged pieces of glass. The fragments made a piercing crunch as his boot stepped on them.

Soon he was able to unlock the door and let the dog in to find her owner, but not before sweeping up the glass and throwing it a nearby bin.

He dragged his feet back into the den area, encountering that same redundant couch again. But this time he did not resist; he allowed gravity to catch him there. 

"So...Corrine. Any chance you could tell me where I am and why my phone still says it's the year 2019?”

She ceased panting and lowered herself into a submissive sitting position as if genuinely trying to understand... 

“Did your owner have treats? I'll give you one if you can tell me with one bark if...

Keith, whether by hopelessness or realization of a harsh reality, sensed that he was not going to get much done with this animal and shut up. Weight caught up to him in his temples and eye sockets and soon he was asleep. 

**********

He saw white patches falling. White patches were all he knew and none of what he could consolidate by just sitting here and watching. 

"Are you ready to listen now?"

Keith finally processed the shape of a woman amongst the illusion of snow. 

“The creature in it's entirety is an interplanetary creature of some sort, brought about by a crash frigate from another planet. It must have attached itself to the parameters of their ship."

"What? Who are you?"

"My name is Dr. Heaven Dunbar and I used to be an off site researcher for the Garrison. I was researching activity here in Oscura mountain, so this cabin is where I lived in order to get a stronger surveillance. But I'm afraid that this was more of a suicide mission, as nothing can take that creature out. 

"Where am I?"

“Where you are is an illusion.”

"In the year 2019...I'm in the past?"

"That I don't know.  I don't know how long I've been in this rift, but I do remember a monster capturing my dog Cori and absorbing her form. I didn't make it. The creature that killed me looked like… the form that I saw was of a red vapor or of a fume, something similar to what comes from car exhausts on a hot day."

"I know about rift creatures, and that creature looks just like one. My friends and I used to be the Paladins of Voltron, and we've traveled through space encountering these creatures. They thrive off of quintessence. Most species can receive poisoning from too much of it. 

“There was a substance near where the crash site was five miles east from the cabin, but that ship has since disappeared in that substance I’m sure.”

So many loose ends. It made no sense. “Could the creature somehow have created a quintessence rift?” Keith offered.

“Could be. I started researching the substance and I remember Cori exposing herself to it. I wrote logs and saved it on a USB stick. There should also be video on there that proves it can cause mania in large amounts.

“Then it's most likely Cori was poisoned and the creature is feeding off of her energy, or that of other creatures and absorbing.”

“You might have something…” she clenched her fist in determination. "Cori."

Keith raised an eyebrow at her with confusion.

"The password is  _Cori..."_

Wind trembled the dimension and began to shake apart all presence where they stood

"Remember me and rescue me? You asked me to save you!” Keith yelled to her

Quizzically, she tilted her head. 

"It wasn't me!"

Then…no, it couldn't have been… _the rift creature was communicating?!_

\----------------   
Keith was back. Into familiar snow, the obscurity of the midnight's missing moon. But the cabin that once stood strongly in it's two stories was now a pile of ancient rubble. He looked around, gathered his bearings, then processed too late a group of people running frantically towards him. 

"Keith! You're alive!"

Lance nearly tackled him to the ground in a tight embrace while his sobs vibrated into his shoulder. 

Keith's arms hung limply during the exchange, never having felt receptive of this depth of Lance's warmth. But the moment he reciprocated with a warm embrace of his own, the rest of his friends clamored around them into a group hug. It was like being woven into a tightly threaded scarf.

Lance opened his eyes, immediately sensing danger. It was here...right?

"Where's the creature? How did you escape?

"It stood down. It's probably still around here somewhere. But when we do encounter it again, none of us are to attack it!" Keith spoke seriously, not a trace of doubt or fear trembling in his voice.  
  
"What the hell, Keith?!"  
  
Shiro stepped forward, an edge of stern lacing his voice, "That animal has merged with a rift creature who's quintessence levels can't be contained!"  
  
"Shiro's right. We can't let this creature live. What if it finishes us all off, then tears through the village!?" Lance waved his arm angrily motioning to the direction they came from.  
  
"Okay, there's an easy solution to this." Hunk began much more calmly than the two men. "Remember how the quintessence field increased Voltron's powers significantly, but would have literally destroyed us had we not hauled ass? Guys, we should lead the creature to the quintessence field we found-"  
  
"No, we can't. "His voice choked with affection. "Cori is still in there somehow!"  
  
"Oh, great, now he's named the damn thing!" Lance leaned his forehead wearily into his knuckles. "No! She is NOT coming home with us!" Lance rubbed his temples roughly, fighting a nasty urge to shake this kind, loving man by his shoulders.  
  
Keith bit back, "I'M not the one who named her! Dr. Dunbar named her."

“Dr. Dunbar...” Shiro murmured with a bewildered tone leaking from his voice. “She's part of a 200 year old cold case!”  
  
"Keith what exactly have you found here?" Pidge asked with a consoling tone to her voice.  
  
"Data. Most of it's been charred. But there was some that I recovered while I was in that strange rift. Reports that  _prove_ quintessence causes mania in large amounts. That creature in there is a rift creature that attacked a crew from an unknown planet, and somehow managed to merge with an earth animal like Cori. The reports date back 200 years...

"Doesn’t seem like the Garrison to be sloppy about their investigations." Pidge folded her arms.  
  
"Yeah but you know someone would have snitched about it if they were to follow through. And that would have fueled a guaranteed public panic. Add that to the reality of the loose-ended nature of cold cases" added Hunk.  
  
Lance rubbed his chin. "Just one quick question: what exactly was guiding you? I mean, I've heard you mumble full blown conversations with yourself but..."  
  
The man with the mullet deadpanned with an annoyed frown. "I don't get what you're trying to grasp... "   
  
"The only thing that survived was whatever rift creature dragged you away from there. Is there still a hidden quintessence field in a pile of snow or something?" And would that pool be connecting you to the dead spirits of Dr. Dunbar in some way?"  
  
"I mean...maybe..." Keith pondered gently.  
  
What was he going to do? If the creature became overexposed to the field, it would destroy it forever, but what about Cori's soul? Would she be reunited with Heaven after all? The conflict stirred inside of him and threatened to destroy any semblance of composure within the heart that loved this dog almost as much as his beloved space wolf.

Shiro rested his hand firmly on his shoulder. "No matter what, Cori couldn't have live past 200 years. Her body will have been long destroyed, but that creature that has her soul will set it free should we succeed."

"And how can we knew that for sure?"

"Keith, you already know. Trust your instincts. This is not the time for attachment to cloud your judgement."

He was right. He was always right. And the plan that was fluttering around in his brain could now be called to full attention as he communicated what they would do as a team.   
  
*****   
Keith followed them to the former crash site where Dr. Dunbar said the bed of quintessence dwelled. She was right. But the ship was nonexistent.

As Cori was draining control from the creature, it would be at best a hindrance if nothing else. Thankfully it couldn't escape that far on their watch. Cosmo would be live bait. Teleportation was one strength and advantage that he had over the rift creature.

"I'm counting on you." Keith nuzzled his forehead into the giant animal's snout as he returned a whimper to his human/Galra friend. As he ran away to the forested area, Cosmo stayed behind and waited, whimpers rising from him like vapors as he stood his ground. 

Ten feet or so away was a dot that carried the illusion of a red burning wave. The canine illusion inside of it marched ahead at a steady pace, as Cosmo backed away at half that speed . 

Now that the two animals were standing feet apart from each other, it appeared that Cori's possessor was only mere inches taller than the wolf was, but carried a more simmering intimidation underneath it's lack of a bark. 

While rising his head to meet that empty gaze of the creature, he absorbed what Keith meant to communicate to him and barked loudly as a way of provoking it. 

One show of defiance and the red apparition launched dominantly at him as Cosmo misted away. 

The plan worked as the creature dived straight into the pile of quintessence concealed in the field behind the cabin and thrashed around violently until it could no longer struggle. It sank with a piercing shrill of a cry and allowed itself defeat.

A large star beam emerged from the pool, shooting its embers in several directions and revealing the sleeping form of a grown Alaskan Husky. The dog blinked and raised her head as if waking up from a long nap.

The spirit of Dr. Dunbar was waiting, calling her best friend from yards away. With a flicker of her ears, the Alaskan Husky galloped to her owner as their ghostly silhouettes slowly faded away with sparks of quintessence. 

_Thank you for remembering us._

Keith saluted them with a balled fist against his heart, whispering "you're welcome" as the rest of the gang followed him into a moment of silence.

Right above them a thick wave of light diminished the stars and fanned brilliantly with hues of dark blue and shades of turquoise bleeding into green hues.

*****

The next day Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro were in the middle of a game of cards on the outside deck while the other two men went to ski, this time with Keith having finally gotten the hang of it earlier. Allura and Coran were watching them vicariously. 

"The Garrison has the stick that Keith spoke of from the other dimension. It was only slightly charred amongst all the rubble." Shiro said.

"So they were just going to leave that as a classified government graveyard of sorts?" Allura shook her head in disapproval, waiting for the rest of the story to resonate with her. "No way to honor a doctor. And what was on that stick, anyway?"

"Supposed to be family pictures, but I have a feeling that there's a lot more to that story than just a woman and her beloved canine." Hunk added.

Shiro’s continued, "Apparently there was something on there that Keith saw in the other dimension that matches proof that quintessence indeed poisons any living species in large amounts."

"But in any case, you guys survived a classic ghost story. Does the public have any knowledge?" Coran leaned into his face with his elbow perched on the table. 

Between us members of the Garrison, that's deemed classified." Shiro folded his arms.

"But we're telling you and Coran since you are honorary members." Pidge added spiritly.

Shiro smiled. "You should have heard the laugh I got out of Iverson when I told him about how our finest of security mistook us for ghosts! Cosmo was forgiven, as were our actions.

"Guys? What are we playing?" Hunk looked at his deck and let them fall into a perfect flat fan on the table. 

"I thought we were playing Go-Fish." Shiro scratched his cheek.

"We're not playing B.S.?" Pidge sighed exasperately. 

"Ah," Coran began. "Next time you end up on vacation, we're going to have to come see you and binge on Monsters and Mana again. Wrangle in Keith this time.

"Where are those two, anyway?" Allura scrunched her face.

The three hushed as two male voices of conflicting volume and mood were exchanging words swiftly amongst each other. 

"There they go again." Shiro turned his head to await Lance and Keith, using his hover arm to open the patio door. 

Keith was strolling inside with a rather tranquil resting face as Lance was waving his hands wildly while fussing about something that piqued their curiosity enough to finally peak through the door. 

"Come on! You know you cheated! You and your little big wolf!"

"Didn't I return to pull you out of that ditch?" Keith side-eyed him with a tone that contrasted Lances’ rapid fire speech.

But Lance was still peeved. "Yeah, helping me up after taunting me with "I win" and that-that  _smile_ of yours does NOT count as a valiant effort! And none of that would have happened in the first place if your wolf hadn't decided to flash right in front of me!"

Keith sighed lightly. "He was running interference. If it weren't for him, you would have crash landed into that tree and gotten a full opportunity to say "hi" to Cori for me."

Lance exhaled, his shoulders dropping as limply as his arms. "Gonna go take a relaxing bath, then sleep."

As the former blue paladin turned to ascend the stairs to his room, Keith stopped him by calling his name, voice soft. 

"I still love you." he teased, though it sounded more earnest than that from Lance's point of view. 

"Love you too, Keith." he turned away with sleepiness in his eyes despite the smile that snuck to his lips the moment he reached the top to the hallway.

Pidge folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "Why don't those two just go ahead and find a nice little drive-thru chapel to say their "I-do's" already?"

“I couldn’t agree more.” Lotor chimed in out of nowhere, pulling all eyes on him. The half-Galran king cleared his throat, “Did I say something out of line, my dear?”

“Not in the slightest, darling. “Allura rested her hands on his broad shoulders.

“See, even Lotor notices!”

Shiro smirked, as if uncovering a precious secret. "I don't believe that even  _marriage_ could symbolize their connection. “

Coran jumped up excitedly. “But...to play Bob's advocate, I think that Cosmo would make the running for best man at Keith's and Lance's nuptials.”

Hunk smiled widely. “Actually, he might be walking Keith down the aisle.”

Allura contributed with a sly smile framing her face. “Perhaps officiating the ceremony?”

They all exploded into giggles and snickers that swept away in a flash once Keith came outside with a reprimanding frown. 

“He’s not gonna do _any_ of that! A ring bearer will do just fine!”

Not seconds later did his team, along with Allura, Coran, and Lotor, join in a rising chorus of oohs and ahhs. 

“No! What I-I…” At that moment his tongue betrayed him further as bright red stained his cheeks. He buried his face into his palm to hide from the humiliation.

In the midst of the group's small celebration, Shiro hung an arm around his shoulder in brotherly reassurance while Cosmo licked his heated face.

 

* * *

 


End file.
